You’re going to need about five solid minutes to take these in and give them the full attention that they deserve. We’re talking giggles. Screeches of delight. Childish jumping up and down. These are serious. Seriously cute, that is.

I’m on a cake pop kick again. And this time, I brought my A-game.

Today is the Noah’s Ark party at our church. And nothing says Noah’s Ark more than animal-themed cake pops.

I spent my whole afternoon making these darling little creatures while singing the Arky Arky Song. You know, the Sunday School tune about Noah and the ark?

“The animals, the animals, they came in by two-ey two-ey,
The animals, the animals, they came in by two-ey two-ey,
Elephants and Kangaroos-eys,
Children of the Lord.”

You don’t know it? That’s a shame. I’m sure you could find in online. And really, you should. It would be a pity to live your whole life without having sung the Arky Arky song at least once.

But I digress. Back to cake pops.

Have you ever seen a cuter piece of cake on a stick?

Check out these adorable little lions. Don’t you just want to cuddle up with them?

And don’t even get me started on the monkeys. Who doesn’t love monkeys?

Good thing I’ll be hanging out with the under-10 crowd tonight. I know they’ll appreciate my childish giddiness. Or they’ll just think I’m the weird lady at the football toss station. At least I’ll be the weird lady with the awesome animal cake pops. I can live with that.

DirectionsBake a cake from a mix or from scratch and cool completely. Crumble cake into a fine consistency into a large bowl. Add frosting and blend together using the back of a large spoon or your hands. (I used my hands. Much easier.)

Roll mixture into 1.25″ – 1.5″ size balls and lay on wax paper-covered cookie sheet. You may want to periodically rinse and dry your hands off in between. Cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for several hours. You can speed this up by placing in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

While cake balls are chilling, begin to heat up your chocolate. Follow the instructions on the package for melting. Most recommend heating for 30 second intervals at a time and stirring in between. You can also do the double boiler method (which I prefer. Less chance of burning the chocolate that way.)

When you are ready to dip, remove cake balls from freezer. Dip the ends of the lollipop sticks in the chocolate, and insert stick into cake ball. Repeat for remaining balls. Return to freezer for 5 minutaes.

Remove cake balls from freezer. Holding onto the lollipop sticks, dip cake pops in the melted chocolate, covering completely. Lightly tap the sticks on the side of the bowl to allow excess chocolate to fall off. Insert lollipop stick into a Styrofoam block to allow cake pop to dry upright. Repeat with remaining cake pops.

DON’T – get water in the chocolate. Make sure your hands are completely dry. Water will cause the chocolate to separate and mess up all your hard work.

DO – thin your chocolate with vegetable shortening, if necessary. Add gradually until you reach the desired consistency.

ALSO DON’T – let kitty eat your cupcake pops. For obvious reasons.

Dry completely (15-20 minutes).

Once dry, decorate as desired.

For a lion: Pipe his face on with melted chocolate. Use an orange M&M for his nose and chocolate chips for his mane.

For a monkey: Pipe a smile on a white melting chocolate using red Royal icing for his face. Pipe a red dot in the center of another white melting chocolate for his hat. Pipe his eyes on with black Royal icing. Adhere his face and hat to his body with melted chocolate. Use brown M&Ms for his ears.

Allow to dry completely after decorating. These can be stored in an airtight container for a few days. Place cake pops in individual plastic bags and tie with ribbons.